Looks That Will Make Even Casual Fridays Haters Happy
The Men’s Apparel Alliance, nearly at its wits’ end over casual Fridays, should take heart from the latest men’s styles--polished with a little edge--unveiled on Paris runways last weekend.
Tom Ford, for the Yves Saint Laurent ready-to-wear line, offered floppy and wide trousers worn with double-breasted, well-tailored jackets. Hedi Slimane at Dior menswear also offered some loose-fitting trousers, a departure from his usual slim-fit silhouette. He paired them with short jackets ranging from military to frock styles.
Jean-Paul Gaultier’s show was a homage to famous women who wore men’s clothes--the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn and George Sand. There were hints of Hepburn in his belted pantsuits or Marlene in his trench coats.
The more formal looks ought to help the cause of James Ammeen, president of the Men’s Apparel Alliance trade group, who laments, “The trend of casualization has gone too far.” He says the Hawaiian-shirt day has got to go.
COVER GIRL: Sarah Jessica Parker, a fashionista in her own right, and her alter ego on “Sex and the City,” Carrie Bradshaw, the ultimate fashionista, are both enjoying Vogue moments.
Parker, wearing a Calvin Klein wool bodice and pants, is the magazine’s cover girl and story this month. The profile of New York’s “It Girl” chronicles the rise, fall and rise again of her spirits from the Marc Jacobs fashion show on Sept. 10 through the holiday season.
“New Yorkers always have the right accessories; and this season the two accessories that everyone is carrying are courage and pride,” she is quoted as saying at a fund-raising dinner for a children’s charity held soon after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Meanwhile, Bradshaw goes to work for the magazine in an upcoming episode of the HBO comedy. She heads off for her first day on the job in a Vivienne Westwood suit that Vogue editors say is too theatrically chic even for their office.
What the show’s costume designer, Patricia Field, did get right is the look of Vogue’s fictional editor in chief, played by Candice Bergen. She wears a skirt that looks a lot like a Bill Blass number made famous by real-life editor Anna Wintour. Bergen’s character also has a choppy bob hairstyle and Manolo Blahnik shoes that are quite familiar-looking to the folks at Vogue.
